TORRINGTON >> If the Torrington Historical Society takes over a long-delayed project to restore the historic Skee's Diner, it could be turned into a working restaurant again instead of a museum or visitor's center.

President Mark McEachern said Tuesday that the group "would like to see it downtown" and believes a restored 1940s-style diner that serves food could be a tourist attraction that fits well with bigger downtown revitalization efforts in Torrington.

"If we do decide to move forward, we would most likely see it used for food service, not a static museum-type installation, but something that's actually in use," he said. "It would be more akin to living history than anything else. ... There's a real interest in actually seeing it operated as a diner. We think there would be more interest in it generated by that use than any other."

Whether the Historical Society will take ownership of Skee's Diner is still a big "if."

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McEachern said that decision hasn't gone to his board of directors yet. The group received a $2,500 grant and launched a study in August of the feasibility of the project. It has hired an architect who is evaluating potential locations for the diner and the cost of restoration.

McEachern believes the Historical Society can bring the cost of the project down to "much less" than what the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce had planned to spend on converting it to a visitor's center to be placed in a park-and-ride lot off Exit 44 of Route 8.

The chamber's plan included ancillary facilities and infrastructure that McEachern doesn't think will be necessary if the goal is to put it back into use as a working diner.

Since purchasing the diner from St. Maron's Church more than six years ago, the Chamber has had difficulty in raising money to support the visitor's center vision.

Complicated negotiations with the state Department of Transportation and environmental agencies have also delayed the project. The Chamber has spent close to $100,000 on that process so far, and President JoAnn Ryan has estimated a "conservative $150,000" would be required to move the diner from its present site across from the police station on Main Street and do the environmental cleanup necessary on the land beneath it.

Ryan said Tuesday that the latest holdup is getting a signed agreement from the church to do that cleanup.

"We can't even send in the application for the Brownfields (funding)," she said. "We don't own the property. We only own the diner."

She is happy that the Torrington Historical Society has expressed an interest in taking over Skee's Diner, and said that the Chamber has shifted its focus on a visitors center to establishing a downtown presence at 61 Main St., in association with a new children's museum being built by supporters of the Warner Theatre and others.

"We are most supportive of (the Historical Society's interest)," Ryan said. "That's their niche. That's their expertise. How wonderful that we can work with them to somehow get the project moving forward."

Skee's Diner was built in 1932 and is believed to be among only a dozen left in the country that were built by the manufacturing company Jerry O'Mahoney founded in 1928. It was moved to Torrington in 1944, at the end of World War II, and had its heyday when Torrington's manufacturing company, including the Torrington Company, was at its heyday.

The Historical Society is serious enough about the project that its actively looking for a large indoor space where the diner could be stored while it is restored.

"I'm saying all this with a huge caveat," McEachern said, which is that his board has only "informally discussed" the project and not approved it. "We're not there yet."

Editor's Note: Register Citizen Group Editor Matt DeRienzo is on the board of directors of the Northwest Connecticut Chamber of Commerce, which owns Skee's Diner. Find an error in this story? Email factcheck@registercitizen.com.